ITAL30020 Italian Modernist Fiction

Academic Year 2023/2024

The course investigates the meaning, and possible definitions, of Modernism in a European and particularly an Italian context. Three novels (Il fu Mattia Pascal, by Pirandello, Tre croci by Tozzi and La coscienza di Zeno by Svevo) are studied as examples of Modernist writing in Italy. The novels are firmly placed within their historical and cultural context, as well as within the context of each author's work. Close readings of the texts, with an eye to themes and stylistic features of particular importance, are offered in lectures. Each class will consist of an introductory lecture followed by a 1-hour seminar based on close reading and group discussion of set texts. From week 3 onwards, seminars will consist of individual 10-minute student presentations followed by class discussion. Students are welcome to propose their own passage for presentation, or to choose from a selection proposed by the lecturer. Assessment is by means of presentation on one author and final 2-hour examination, consisting of a comparative essay on the other two authors. Students should have read the novels prior to the commencement of the module.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module, students should be able to: recognize the place of these works in their historical and cultural context; demonstrate a critical understanding of the Modernist novel; present ideas orally and engage in discussion; analyse the texts in terms of both form and content through providing a detailed presentation of individual texts; write a critical essay appropriate to a third-year student of Italian literature.

Indicative Module Content:

Course Outline

1. Intro: Italian literature between 19th and 20th century
Seminar discussion: questions in Italian Modernism

2. Luigi Pirandello: life, aesthetics, other works
Seminar: extracts from L'umorismo

3. Il Fu Mattia Pascal: narrative and social conventions
Seminar: students' presentations

4. Il Fu Mattia Pascal: identity and doubt
Seminar: students' presentations

5. Federigo Tozzi: life, aesthetics, other works
Seminar: extracts from Pagine critiche

6. Tre croci: modernist realism
Seminar: students' presentations

7. Tre croci: psychology and religion
Seminar: students' presentations

8. Italo Svevo: life, aesthetics, other works
Seminar: extracts from Saggi e pagine sparse

9. La coscienza di Zeno: autobiography and psychoanalysis
Seminar: students' presentations

10. La coscienza di Zeno: personal and collective illness
Seminar: students' presentations

11. Conclusion. Common threads in Italian Modernist Fiction

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

11
Tutorial

11
Specified Learning Activities

44
Autonomous Student Learning

44
Total

110
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Lectures, student presentations; active, task-based learning, debate and discussion. Active participation in class is required. Students are expected to engage with material made available on Brightspace. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations
Learning Recommendations:

Students should have completed Italian Language IIb (ITAL20080) or have an equivalent competency in the language. Texts will be read in Italian. Core texts should be read in advance of the commencement of the module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Presentation: In-class individual presentation Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

30
Examination: Comparative essay (choice of questions) 2 hour End of Trimester Exam No Graded No

70

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring Yes - 2 Hour
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students are welcome to discuss presentation ideas and receive feedback in advance of the presentation (this will be formative, not summative feedback); class presentations will receive individual feedback and a summative grade normally within 7-10 days after the presentation.

Reading list

Primary sources

Luigi Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal
Federigo Tozzi, Tre croci
Italo Svevo, La coscienza di Zeno
(any edition in Italian works)

Pirandello L, Saggi, poesie, scritti varii. a cura di Manlio Lo Vecchio-Musti. Milano: Mondadori; 1960
Tozzi F, Pagine critiche, ed. by Giancarlo Bertoncini. Pisa: Edizioni ETS; 1993.
Svevo I, Saggi e pagine sparse. Milano: Mondadori; 1954

Secondary sources


Allegoria, n. 63, gennaio/giugno 2011, Il modernismo in Italia, https://www.allegoriaonline.it/category/allegoria-n-63

Meneghelli D. “Periodization, Comparative Literature, and Italian Modernism”. CLCWeb : Comparative literature and culture. 2013;15(7):11.

Somigli L, Moroni M. Italian modernism: Italian culture between decadentism and avant-garde. London;Toronto: University of Toronto Press; 2014.

Castellana R. “Realismo modernista: un'idea del romanzo italiano (1915-1925)”. Italianistica. 2010;39(1):23-45.

Subialka MJ. Modernist Idealism: Ambivalent Legacies of German Philosophy in Italian Literature. Toronto: University of Toronto Press; 2022.

Dombroski R. “The foundations of Italian modernism: Pirandello, Svevo, Gadda”. In: The Cambridge Companion to the Italian Novel. Cambridge University Press; 2003. p. 89-103.

Amberson D. Giraffes in the garden of Italian literature: modernist embodiment in Italo Svevo, Federigo Tozzi and Carlo Emilio Gadda. London: Legenda; 2012.

Godioli A. Laughter from realism to modernism: misfits and humorists in Pirandello, Svevo, Palazzeschi, and Gadda. Leeds: Legenda; 2015.

Donnarumma R. “Noluntas sciendi, voluntas nesciendi”. CoSMO (Turin, Italy). 2023(22).

Debenedetti G. Il romanzo del Novecento: Quaderni inediti. Milano: Garzanti; 1971.

Puppo M, Cavallini G. Il romanzo da Svevo a Tozzi. Brescia: La Scuola; 1979.

Barilli R. La linea Svevo-Pirandello. Milano: Mursia; 1972.

Dedola R. “Il fumo, la maschera, gli insetti: crisi del romanzo e nuove proposte narrative in Svevo, Pirandello e Tozzi”. Italica (New York, N.Y.). 1992;69(1):19-29.



Pirandello


Lauretta E. Come leggere Il fu Mattia Pascal di Luigi Pirandello. Milano: Mursia; 1976.

Ferrario E. L'occhio di Mattia Pascal: poetica e estetica in Pirandello. Roma: Bulzoni; 1978.

Luperini R. Luigi Pirandello e "Il fu Mattia Pascal". Torino: Loescher; 1990.

Mazzacurati G. Pirandello nel romanzo europeo. Bologna: Il Mulino; 1995.

Druker J. “Self-Estrangement and the Poetics of Self-Representation in Pirandello's L'umorismo". South Atlantic review. 1998;63(1):56-71.

Harrison, T. “Regicide, Parricide, and Tyrannicide in Il fu Mattia Pascal: Stealing from the Father to Give to the Son”. In: Gian-Paolo Biasin and Manuela Gieri, editors. Luigi Pirandello. University of Toronto Press; 1999. p. 189.

Daniele P. “Pirandello e Mattia Pascal : poeta e profeta”. Studi novecenteschi. 2007;34(73):11-54.

Farafonova D. “Pirandello lettore di Pascal. Premesse al Fu Mattia Pascal”. Lettere italiane. 2013;65(1):29.

Melcer-Padon N. “Mattia Pascal's Punitive Mask”. Italica (New York, N.Y.). 2015;92(2):358-74.

Puppa P. “Trilogia dell’io: nascita, sviluppo, crisi della narrativa pirandelliana”. In: Garavaglia V. Pirandello 150: Un auteur en quête d'un personnage. Éditions Universitaires d’Avignon; 2019.




Tozzi


Maxia S. Uomini e bestie nella narrativa di Federigo Tozzi. Padova: Liviana; 1971.

“Tozzi, Federigo (1883-1920), An Introduction to”. Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. 1989;31:311-35.

Jeuland-Meynaud M. Lettura antropologica della narrativa di Federigo Tozzi. Roma: Bulzoni; 1991.

Baldacci L. Tozzi moderno. Torino: Einaudi; 1993.

Luperini R. Federigo Tozzi: le immagini, le idee, le opere. Roma: Laterza; 1995.

Palumbo M. “"Forza lirica" e mondo allegorico: tre croci di Federigo Tozzi”. MLN. 1997;112(1):57.

Saccone E. “Le cambiali di Tozzi”. MLN. 1989;104(1):151-88.

Pedroni PN. “Federigo Tozzi: Autobiography and Antinaturalism". Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism. 1989;31:311-35.

Saccone E. Allegoria e sospetto: come leggere Tozzi. 1.th ed. Napoli: Liguori; 2000.

Serafini C. “I luoghi del desiderio nella narrativa di Federigo Tozzi: Siena e Roma / The places of desire in the narrative of Federigo Tozzi: Siena and Roma”. Il capitale culturale. 2017(16):81-92.



Svevo


Moloney B. Italo Svevo: a critical introduction. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press; 1974.

Spagnoletti G. La coscienza di Zeno di Italo Svevo: profilo di un'opera. Milano: Biblioteca universale Rizzoli; 1978.

Minghelli G. “In the Shadow of the Mammoth: Narratives of Symbiosis in La Coscienza di Zeno”. MLN. 1994;109(1):49-72.

Savelli G. L'ambiguità necessaria: Zeno e il suo lettore. Milano: FrancoAngeli; 1998.

Amberson D. “An Ethics of Nicotine: Writing a Subjectivity of Process in Italo Svevo’s La Coscienza di Zeno”. Forum Italicum. 2005;39(2):441-60.

Nikopoulos J. “Zeno Cosini's Philosophy of Humor”. Forum italicum. 2012;46(2):361-79.

Micali S. “'Una confessione in iscritto è sempre menzognera.' Autofiction staged in Svevo's novels”. Italianist. 2015;35(3):384-96.

Bond E. “Irony as a Way of Life: Svevo, Kierkegaard, and Psychoanalysis”. Philosophy and literature. 2016;40(2):431-45.

Ellman M. “Psychoanalysis and autobiography”. In: A History of English Autobiography. ; 2016. p. 313-28.

Privitera D. “La coscienza della crisi e la sintomatologia onomastica ne La Coscienza di Zeno [The awareness of the crisis and the onomastic symptomatology in La Coscienza di Zeno]”. Open Journal of Humanities. 2019;1:87-96.





Name Role
Dr Marco Bellardi Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Valeria Taddei Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
 
Autumn
      
Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 1, 6, 12 Thurs 14:00 - 15:50
Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 10 Thurs 14:00 - 15:50
Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 2, 3, 7, 9, 11 Thurs 14:00 - 15:50
Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 4 Thurs 14:00 - 15:50
Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 5, 8 Thurs 14:00 - 15:50
Autumn